Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman, on May 9, tweeted that reducing or exempting Goods and Services Tax (GST) rates on domestically produced or commercially imported items essential in the fight against COVID-19, will lead to manufacturers unable to avail of input tax credit, which in turn could lead to higher prices for customers. Sitharaman’s series of tweets were in reply to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking GST exemptions on vaccines and crucial COVID-19 supplies. "If full exemption from GST is given, vaccine manufacturers would not be able to offset their input taxes and would pass them on to the end consumer/citizen by increasing the price," Sitharaman said.